2121 Lake Wheeler Rd
Raleigh, NC, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Dr. Elmo N. Lawrence House

Statement of Significance:

The Dr. Elmo N. Lawrence House-constructed circa 1922-is locally significant under Criterion C in the area of Architecture as an intact and rare-surviving example of a Craftsman bungalow built of hollow-core, tooled-face concrete block that was covered with stucco at the time of its construction. Although factory-produced concrete block was a popular building material in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, buildings constructed of handmade concrete blocks, such as the Lawrence House, are much rarer in Raleigh. Constructed for a long-time Raleigh dentist and orthodontist, the Lawrence House stands as a well-preserved example of a concrete block house with a cement stucco exterior, a house type widely espoused by Gustav Stickley's Craftsman magazine for its inexpensiveness, ease of construction, and stylishness. Concrete block played a significant role in construction in the early twentieth century by employing new technology that allowed builders to construct substantial houses with relatively inexpensive and widely available material. The open plan of the Lawrence House is based on Stickley's Greek cross-plan in which the stair occupies the center of the house thereby allowing light and outside air into the rooms that surround it. Although magazines and builders' catalogs of the 1920s disseminated ideas about concrete block construction for domestic buildings, block dwellings in the Craftsman style are rare in Raleigh and its vicinity, where only one other example from the period has been identified.

Historic context for the Lawrence House is discussed in the multiple property documentation form, "Historic and Architectural Resources of Wake County, North Carolina (circa 1770 to 1941)" under Context 4: "Boom, Bust, and Recovery between the World Wars (1919 to 1941)." Craftsman-style houses are discussed in Property Type 3C: "Twentieth Century Popular House Types (circa 1910 to 1941)." The multiple property documentation form notes the predominance of frame Craftsman houses as well as brick and stone examples, but does not include a discussion of concrete block Craftsman houses suggesting their rarity in Wake County. The Lawrence House meets the Registration Requirements for historic and architectural integrity for this property type as an intact house that is not at the center of a farm complex.